Jailed peer spent £286,000 on card

Disgraced peer Lord Hanningfield spent more than £286,000 on a council credit card over a five-year period.

Published: 13:13, Thu, November 15, 2012

Essex County Council has published a full list of former leader Lord Hanningfield's spending on auth [PA]

Essex County Council has published a full list of Lord Hanningfield's credit card spending between 2005 and 2010 as part of its review of spending at the authority.

The log lists thousands of transactions, including spending on flights, train journeys, meals and hotel stays, while the 71-year-old was leader of the authority.

The peer, from West Hanningfield, Essex, served nine weeks of a nine-month sentence last year after being convicted of falsely claiming £14,000 in parliamentary expenses. He was later ordered to pay back more than £30,000.

This week City of London Police announced it would be taking no further action after investigating his spending at the council, saying there was insufficient evidence.

Between 2006 and 2011 Lord Hanningfield was paid £236,644 in expenses and allowances.

Council leader Peter Martin said that since Lord Hanningfield left the council, action had been taken to tighten the authority's "governance framework" by placing tighter controls on spending.

The report found that although Lord Hanningfield reimbursed costs identified as being personal spending, there had been issues with a lack of receipts and expenditure above recommended guidelines.

Mr Martin said: "These improvements have strengthened our corporate governance and the Audit Commission's ethical governance review conducted in July 2011 concluded that we have made 'significant progress' at strengthening our governance arrangements. I am pleased that the police investigation is now closed and we are now able to move on.

"Lord Hanningfield was obviously a large part of the authority for a number of years but it is three years since he stepped down as leader and a lot has changed since then. It is now time to look forward rather than back."